Answer Me
by S. Mark Gunther
Summary: Mousse finally settles his hash with Shampoo, and it gets a little violent. After their settling of the issues, no one will be the same. MxS and a classic fic of mine, one I've always been proud of. Feedback keeps this quality fanfiction coming!


Answer Me  
By S. Mark Gunther  
  
The light shone into Dr. Tofu's office with a hissing glare. It's  
intrusion into the scene both alleviated the tension and heightened to  
it. And all because it was sunlight, shining into a room of darkness.  
  
But why would a ray of sunlight be seen as an intrusion in this  
serene setting? The people inhabiting the room understood why this was.  
Or at least the one who was standing and conscious.  
  
Muu Tzu, a.k.a. Mousse, stood next to the small bed in the holding  
room clutching fervently to a small, thin hand streaked with blood. His  
blood. And hers. For this hand belonged to the one woman he loved more  
than any other, the one who would have the world from him if she only  
asked for it. Shampoo.  
  
Her shallow breath set a staccato rhythm into the tiny room,  
bouncing of walls like a pinball on crack. Lines marked her normally  
smooth skin and her complexion resembled a bad feline nightmare on a bad  
day throughout. Dark circles ringed her eyes from the heavy duty drugs  
used to sedate her, her lips cracked from the lack of fluids her body  
endured. The IV drip spiked in her arm couldn't even begin to keep up  
with the deficiencies in her body. A cold sweat shook all over her body  
like a wave in a forgotten ocean.  
  
Mousse's tears, silent as they were, kept falling. A gentle rain  
shower to the fallen amazon before him. He didn't sob a single sob. Not  
a squeak escaped his lips. Only the tears. Only the tears he couldn't  
control. Even when Dr. Tofu's hand clasped his shoulder and turned him  
around, the tears kept going.  
  
"Are you ok??" he asked as he transmitted a bit of hope to the young  
Chinese boy. Mousse's nod told much about his mental state. Physically  
fine, emotionally fucked up. "Follow me. She'll be ok if you leave for a  
few minutes...."  
  
"No.....nooo......" he moaned. "She needs me...."  
  
"Yes. She does. But you must rest for a few minutes, and tea will be  
good for you." Dr. Tofu's words struck a reasonable chord in the man,  
and he slowly nodded his head in compliance. They walked out of the room  
and proceeded down a small hallway to the doctor's office. Dr. Tofu sat  
down and began to pour two small cups of tea for them. Mousse collapsed  
into the small sofa on the far wall and shivered from the emotional  
withdrawal he was going through. His shook as if he was a reed in a  
violent wind storm, his eyes closing tightly to the bad dream ahead.  
  
"Here." Dr. Tofu handed a cup of tea to him, and sat down in front  
of Mousse's spot on the sofa. His own eyes were red with tiredness, and  
the tea sipping helped to calm the doctor's frazzled nerves. After a few  
sips of the hot elixir, he prepared to speak but was beaten to the punch  
by Mousse's raspy monotone.  
  
"I'm so tired, doctor" Mousse said as he sipped his tea. "I'm the  
most tired I've ever been in my life....even after saving Shampoo from  
the birdman I was never this tired..."  
  
"Well I think you should be, Mousse," Tofu replied with a tired  
expression on his face. "You haven't been fighting all day for nothing.  
Frankly, you should not even be conscious right now, with all the  
injuries you taken."  
  
"My well being is of little concern to me right now. All I worry  
about is Shampoo. My Shampoo....."  
  
"What the hell happened to you and her that would bring you to a  
state like this??" The doctor looked a Mousse with an appraising glare,  
his eyes searching for any clue to unlocking this mystery. "All I know  
is that you carried her into my office and nearly collapsed on my floor  
from loss of blood. Now I want to know what happened to you....."  
  
Mousse cleared his throat and began to speak to the doctor. But all  
through his mind, a niggling question still remained. He knew that the  
doctor would comprehend what had happened to Shampoo and himself on that  
day.  
  
The question was, would he believe it?  
  
**********  
  
The entire hellish episode began on a hot day in July in the small  
prefecture of Nerima. Mousse had been working a hellish 16 double shift  
at work and he was tired. Was he ever tired out! A full day of serving  
hostile customers and dodging blows from the chief tormentor Cologne,  
had left him exhausted and burned out. As he sat down for a moment  
preparing for the dinnertime rush the colors swirling in front of his  
eyes intensified and blended into a mosaic of patterns and visions.  
  
His nose dripped from the summer allergies he suffered from, and his  
nose was continually dabbed with a handkerchief from his sleeve.  
Occasionally he would reach down and grab a small glass of water from  
the table and gulp a swig of it down. The cooling velvety fluid helped  
Mousse cool the fire inside him, keeping the boy from collapsing from  
the awful heat.  
  
All day Mousse sat with the thought that Shampoo was no where to be  
found to help with the rush he had to do all by himself. And Cologne had  
no issue in overworking the thin Chinese lad to the point of exhaustion  
to appease her great-granddaughter's whims. It kept the fires in him  
burning to a point that he couldn't even see Cologne as a real person  
anymore. All he could see her as was nothing but a bitch which kept him  
from what he sought in life. And it seemed that in the last few weeks,  
she had gotten worse in the way she dealt with him.  
  
Life was hell.  
  
Mousse was dealing with the horrible truth that even if he wanted to  
leave the Nekohanten to find his own way in the world, he couldn't.  
Why?? Because so long as Shampoo had to keep trying to attain Ranma for  
herself, he had to stay to help her earn money to do these endeavors he  
hated. And that was the most awful thing that Mousse had to realize. He  
came to know that he was the lynch pin that kept the Nekohanten going  
from day to day and he got no recognition at all for it.  
  
Cologne was nowhere to be found and the dining room was finally  
empty. All was quiet and in this quiet time Mousse began to make plans  
to leave Shampoo and the crone for everyone's mutual betterment. Being a  
patient and loving man had it's limits, and Mousse had reached his. It  
wasn't that he hated Shampoo. He still loved her heart and soul. But he  
could not live with the knowledge that he was fueling the campaign to  
annihilate the only dream he lived for in his world. His life with  
Shampoo. He would be dammed if he was going to underwrite that Casanova  
Ranma's courtship plans, as unwilling as they may have been to Saotome  
personally.  
  
Just as Mousse came to this conclusion, the door opened with a bang  
and Shampoo came charging in with a hungry Ranma Saotome on her arm.  
"Mousse, bring Ranma a bowl of Ramen. Now!" she barked at him, seeing  
him sitting down at his table. "Husband very hungry from long run..."  
  
"No."  
  
As Mousse uttered the one word he never would have said to her  
before, the world stopped dead in it's track. Pigs began to take flight,  
cows did the high jump over the moon on the other side of the globe, and  
Shangri-La became visible just over Mount Fuji. At least that's where  
Mousse was going to be propelled if Shampoo had her way with him after  
hearing him say no to her.  
  
"What you say, Mousse?? Shampoo no think she hear clearly," she said  
as she separated herself from Ranma, her hand going for her bonbori with  
seriously violent intent.  
  
"I said no. I've been working non-stop for 13 hours without a single  
break and I need to rest if I'm to keep up for the dinner rush tonight.  
You've been whoring yourself out to that slime all day, so you have the  
energy to get a single bowl of ramen for the man you supposedly love.  
Don't you??" Mousse looked over to Shampoo with a calm expression,  
measuring the steam clouds pouring off her shoulders as he spoke. "Or  
has the heat put your brain in traction as well as your decency..."  
  
"Ranma. You sit. Me get you bowl of ramen, then me kill stupid  
duck." Shampoo stormed out of the room, her feet sounding out her anger  
to the world while in the kitchen. Ranma just looked over at Mousse with  
a pitying glare, shaking his head as one would do for a man who was  
condemned to die.  
  
"Mousse, do you know what she's going to do to you??" he asked in  
amazement as he sat down at the counter.  
  
"Sure. I know that she'll probably try to rip my head off for this.  
But right now I'm too tired to care," Mousse replied in a dead voice.  
"So you eat the ramen that your scummy personality has bought, and know  
that I'm just not going to feed someone who is inferior to me anymore."  
  
"WHAT???!!!!!!!!"  
  
"That's what I said. Inferior. For you to string along four girls in  
you wake is so unforgivable that I just don't feel that I want to serve  
you anymore. And I'm tired to boot. So shut up please....you're giving  
me a headache."  
  
"I hope that your medical insurance is paid up...if you even have  
any!" Ranma muttered, his head shaking with the offense of Mousse still  
ringing in his ears. Just then Shampoo came storming back into the room,  
and slid a bowl of ramen to the man she wanted for her own. Then her  
fury was directed towards the man who pissed her off so thoroughly in  
the first place.  
  
"Mousse think he so high and mighty now that he work long shift...."  
she hissed at him in her traditional broken Japanese.  
  
"No. I don't. I'm just tired of serving the scum you want for a man  
in this restaurant. If you want to be his bitch, fine." Mousse replied  
dryly while standing up to go prepare food for the dinner rush. "I'm  
just not going to be a part of this any more. You do your own dirty  
work, not me for you."  
  
There was a terrible silence,.....then......  
  
"Aiya!!!!!!!!!! I kill you stupid duck!!!!" Shampoo screamed with  
all the aggression that she could muster and charged at him, her bonbori  
swinging in huge scaling arcs. Mousse's fatigue kept him from reacting  
quick enough to dodge the flailing amazon and he was flattened by  
Shampoo's rage filled attacks. She proceeded to thrash the poor boy so  
soundly that it was hard to discern where she wanted the carnage to stop  
or even let up. All her frustrations about the heat and the day were  
channeled into her pummeling of Mousse. And with Ranma eating his ramen  
and not giving a flip about the welfare of the young blind duck, Shampoo  
was free to do as she pleased. By the time she booted a ducky version of  
Mousse away into low orbit, the damage had already been done in earnest.  
  
"Humph." She walked back into the dining room, quietly dusting her  
hands and wiping the sweat on her clothes. She had little thought on the  
plight of the young man she had just pummeled, other than to think that  
he had no right to disrespect her the way that he did. Shampoo's  
conscience decided to go on a lunch break as she proceeded to glomp onto  
Ranma's side as he ate. The silence of the restaurant was frighteningly  
abnormal to her but she paid it no mind while snuggling to her "airen".  
  
Ranma, while eating, could not help but feel a twinge of concern for  
the martial artist now trashed at Shampoo's capable hands. He wanted to  
chastise Shampoo for her savageness, but his own hunger and heat  
exhaustion stifled his tongue. Besides, hadn't Mousse learned his lesson  
by now?? You just don't disrespect an Amazon woman of your own tribe.  
His heart soared however at the fact that for once, Mousse decided to  
not be a lapdog to Shampoo's whims. A small part of him told his whole  
body that Mousse had not left the situation that easily, and the rest of  
his body agreed. So he decided to wait and see what would happen.  
  
Minutes passed. Cologne came downstairs to the cafe and greeted her  
son in law with nothing more than a grunt and a stark look. The heat was  
getting to the amazon elder as well as her charges, and it was all she  
could do from collapsing down on her bed and not getting up for a few  
hours. But there was money to be made, and schemes to be planned....  
  
As Cologne exited the dining room, the door to the restaurant opened  
and a bruised and battered Mousse entered the cafe. His hair swirled  
around his head in a sucubus of darkness, his eyes smoldering with rage  
and new energy. The fingers on his hands shook like reeds in a violent  
windstorm and his skin flushed with power and fire. Shampoo took this  
all in stride, as most amazon women did.  
  
"So. Stupid duck return for more beating??" She sneered while  
glomping onto Ranma with a violent squeeze. "You should have learned  
lesson when I sent you through sky...."  
  
He didn't answer her gloating lilting voice immediately. instead,  
Mousse walked forward towards the woman he was madly, hopelessly in love  
with and placed a soft hand on her shoulder. She jumped away from Mousse  
and Ranma at his touch with a short scream. His energy passed between  
the two of them with a chilling glare.  
  
"Shampoo, could you ever love me??" he asked in a penitent halting  
voice, his eyes dripping with emotion.  
  
"No. You only stupid duck. I will never love you." she sneered at  
him. Shampoo was out to break this boy in two pieces and destroy him  
right then and there, but she had once again misunderstood Mousse's  
status internally.  
  
With a blast of energy Mousse let it all go out of him. The rage,  
the anger, the hurt, everything. "WHY NOT!!!!!!!!!!???????????????" he  
screamed, his voice shattering all the nerves in her heart and soul. His  
face contorted with all the emotion and pain in his heart. He charged at  
her with massive speed and fury, his body speeding into a blur of fire  
and rage personified in that moment. "I!!!! SAID!!!! WHY!!!!  
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????" he continually repeated while charging  
into her lithe body.  
  
Shampoo tried to step back and defend herself from his rage, but she  
was just too slow for the now impassioned Mousse. She felt a right hook  
impact into the bottom of her chin knocking clear through the roof of  
the cafe into the backyard/fighting area. Mousse wasted no time leaping  
through the open hole, pursuing the young girl with relentless passion.  
Ranma, being caught off guard, was a step behind the pair as he too  
leaped out of the cafe to see this fight take place. He was sure it was  
going to be a bloodbath and that he might just be needed to keep them  
from really and truly killing each other.  
  
The amazon princess landed on the soft turf like grass behind the  
Nekohanten with a sickening thud, her body impacting on the ground  
leaving a huge impression on the fauna below. Mousse landed slightly  
away from her and bounced backwards into a fighting position, weapons  
fully drawn and ready to maim. Ranma followed him a second later and  
cautiously approached the young Chinese boy.  
  
"Mousse," he began, fully appreciating the situation at hand. "Are  
you sure you want to go through with this? It's wrong to do what you are  
going to do...."  
  
"But it's what this woman wants. And I'm finally tired of giving  
everything I have and not getting anything in return," Mousse snarled  
back at Ranma with a possessed demeanor. "Shampoo is now getting what  
she has always asked for.....a man to fight her."  
  
"Mousse no defeat Shampoo! I kill you, duck!" She screamed as she  
readied her bonbori while rising from the ground. She may have been  
caught off guard, but Shampoo did not become the best female fighter of  
her generation for nothing. That was good, for Mousse did not want to  
fight his beloved on half power.  
  
"That's good that you think that little girl," he sneered at her in  
a voice few had ever heard before, "but you better fight your ass off  
because as much as this pains me I'm going to defeat you and defeat you  
right." He looked over at Ranma who was standing in his spot, observing  
the whole scene in startled shock. "Ranma, I must ask you a favor. No  
matter who comes out here, even Cologne herself, no one must stop this  
fight until there is a conclusion. One of us must give up for this fight  
to end. Understood, Saotome?" The fire in Mousse's eyes emphasized his  
meaning to the anything goes master, and he nodded his assent to Mousse  
with a determined look in his eyes.  
  
With that the two amazon warriors flung themselves at each other in  
combat. Weapons clashed with increasing frequency as the two began to  
measure each other's internal fortitude. Shampoo tried to put Mousse  
away early as she had done in all their previous fights, but as was  
becoming apparent, this was not the same Mousse that had always been in  
the Nerima scene. His eyes burning, his breath ragged and torn, he  
slammed into her with fury and power. This was his time to shine, and he  
wasn't going to make any mistakes.  
  
The fight began to drag on and on with the two fighters oblivious to  
anything except the complete annihilation of the other. Soon the fight  
shifted from being a well organized, flashy martial arts duel into a  
knock down, drag out, last person standing brawl. Each of them used  
whatever was available to pummel the other into submission. Chairs,  
tables, bats, frying pans, the occasional wall, anything that could be a  
weapon was used. For Mousse this was simply his style of fighting, but  
Shampoo did this because in all honesty she knew that she was going to  
be defeated by Mousse. He was simply too fast, too agile, too energetic  
for her too keep up. Her amazon pride kept her from even thinking about  
giving up the fight however, and so she kept throwing herself at Mousse  
in rage.  
  
What the dueling pair did not know was that their battle had  
attracted an audience. A shocked audience, but an audience none the  
less. Ranma had kept his promise that he wasn't going to let anyone  
interfere with the fight at hand, but what he also knew was that he  
needed to have the entire Nerima crew on hand to witness this event. By  
the time the fight had reached it's second hour, nearly all of the major  
players were there. Akane was holding Ranma's hand, and cringing at the  
sight of the two martial artists nearly killing each other. Ukyou and  
Ryouga, by some miracle, arrived together. They stood with their weapons  
drawn, simply waiting for the signal to break them up. Nabiki and Kuno  
also stood together, Kuno with an appraising look on his face, Nabiki  
with a look of shock that was totally the opposite of her detached calm.  
In all the entire crew was shocked at the brutality exhibited by the  
pair of enraged amazons.  
  
And they had good reason to be shocked. What had started out as a  
pair of simply impassioned fighters had mutated into something more.  
Mousse's girth was bloody and bruised, his whole body shook with the  
fire of exertion. His limbs trembled and jittered, his eyes glazed and  
drawn over with fatigue. But as much as he was nearing the fallout  
point, Shampoo was much the worse. Her Chinese outfit was torn nearly  
head to toe, as the blood began to seep from unknown places upon her  
body. The rings around her eyes told the tale of a fight gone on too  
long, cuts on her body showed the brutality that had raged on in the  
valley of the amazon warriors.  
  
With a sway and nearly a topple, Mousse gripped his weapon and stood  
in a ready position, aiming for his final charge. Eyes fiery, hair  
tussled, a bird sang as the auras raged around the blind martial artist.  
Across the field stood the Chinese princess, the birthright to a major  
martial arts dynasty. Shampoo had acquired a small staff that had lain  
on the ground, one of the many weapons used in their monumental battle.  
Chairs, tables, cricket bats, swords, spikes, blades, blunt objects,  
walls, whatever was available to be used as a weapon the pair grabbed  
and used without any restraint or remorse. With Shampoo being armed  
properly, she also prepared for a final conclusion to the conflict. She  
could feel herself almost shutting down totally were it not for the  
excessive amounts of adrenaline in her system.  
  
"Surrender!! Now!!! I've beaten you! Shampoo, it doesn't have to be  
this way...." Mousse yelled as he prepared to fight her for the last  
time. "I'm not going to be leinent......you will suffer...."  
  
"Then I suffer with honor, duck-boy!" Shampoo replied in a strident  
voice. "I'll never bow to you! Ever!"  
  
"Please Shampoo!! Listen to reason!!! I don't want to go on...."  
  
"Then don't!! You never strong! Only lucky....you never worthy of  
Shampoo...."  
  
"Then you'll find out just how wrong you are...the hard way." At  
that, Mousse charged at Shampoo, flailing his weapon in an attacking  
sweep. Shampoo reacted to his charge by attacking on her own. The clash  
of the two amazons topped everything that had happened before hand. Both  
fighters threw everything that they still had left at each other, trying  
to stop the other from gaining control of the duel. All stops were  
thrown out as Mousse and Shampoo danced the dance of death with each  
other in front of the entire Nerima martial arts heirachy.  
  
Shampoo tried to fight, oh she tried so hard to keep up to the blind  
bishonen martial artist, but it was too much, too soon. He body  
collapsed just as the first of Mousse's final attacks hit her body. A  
slam from the butt of his weapon sent Shampoo to his knees, precluding a  
massive uppercut to the bottom of her chin which sent her flying into  
the air. She landed with a crash and dented the ground at massive force.  
Then........the scream that no martial artist in Nerima wanted to ever  
hear.  
  
"Raking Hawk Talons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
With her eyes raised and dilated, she swiveled her head upwards to  
see Mousse rising into the air seemingly in slow motion. His body at  
first was fixed in a crane position, then as he descended upon her in  
the kick she feared the most his body shifted with his razor sharp claws  
glinting on the front of his feet. She tried to roll out of the way, to  
dodge his attack but it was too late. With the force of a battering ram,  
the blind martial artist's feet impacted into her chest and sunk her  
four feet into the soft turf upon which she had lain. All was silent as  
Mousse flipped out of the small crater which he had created with  
Shampoo's body, the entire audience watching in shocked horror as he  
began to pull her out of the crater screaming all the while.  
  
"DO.......YOU.......GIVE??????!!!!!!!!!!!!???!!!!!!!!!!!" he  
bellowed at her, tears flowing unevenly down his dirt smudged cheeks.  
His shaking of her body only maintained that which was unstable and  
violent in him. "DO.......YOU.......SUBMIT?????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
With a small nod and a tiny crystalline tear, she softly whispered  
her answer to her victor. "Yes.....Shampoo give up......my airen....."  
At that she fainted away into his arms, her soft head crumpling into his  
shoulder with a sickening thump.  
  
The picture was one that would be talked about for decades to come:  
Mousse's bloody, disheveled body holding the woman that he had vowed  
never to ever hurt, bloodied senselessly by his own hands. Tears flowing  
ceaselessly down his face, his sobbing racking breathing was the only  
sound that could be heard on the field of battle. At that he crumpled  
down to his knees, Shampoo still scooped into his arms her normally body  
lithe, athletic body now frail and crystalline from the carnage. A  
second passed, and then in a tortured and abused voice, he screamed out  
his rage and sadness in a sound that few had ever heard before. It  
defied comprehension the fury and sorrow in Mousse's scream, tears  
flowing off his skin into her body like a river of pain.  
  
"Why.........why......" he muttered into her chest as his bowed into  
her. "Why did you make me do this?? Why?? Why!!!??????  
WHY?????????!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEVER WANTED TO HURT YOU !!!!!!!!!  
EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!" His anguished soul began to morph the moans of  
sadness inside of him into a new brand of rage; the rage of never being  
understood at all. "I never wanted this for me and you....why did you  
make me do this?? ANSWER ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Not a single bystander moved  
to intervene in this passion play which was unfolding before their eyes.  
All sounds, save Mousse's rage, were silent and solemn on the  
battlefield of destiny.  
  
Time passed slowly as the final scenes played themselves through,  
Whether it was seconds, minutes, or hours, no one could rightly tell.  
Finally, with a slow and measured movement, Mousse rose from his knees  
and began to walk towards the gate, his Shampoo still clutched in his  
arms. A cold, sorrow filled expression glazed his face as he staggered  
forward. Only Ranma has the courage to speak to the blind boy. "Where  
are you going with Shampoo, Mousse??" he asked with a thick voice.  
  
"I'm taking her where she needs to be....and where I need to be  
also....." he hoarsed back to the crowd.  
  
"Are you alright Mousse??" Ukyou asked with concern in her voice.  
Slowly, ever so slowly, Mousse turned around and faced the okonomiakyi  
chef, his face painting the picture of pain better than a picasso ever  
could.  
  
"No, Ukyou. No, I'm not alright. I'll never be alright  
again......because of this....." At that he turned around again and  
walked down the street into the setting nerima sunlight.........  
  
**********  
  
"Whoa......." Dr. Tofu exclaimed as Mousse finished the narrarative  
of what happened that day. He sat his tea cup down and looked into  
Mousse's eyes to gauge what he was feeling inside himself. He saw  
nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dr. Tofu was looking into the eyes of a man  
that had nothing to live for anymore, nothing to cling to except the  
love he had for Shampoo. And that was gone now even though he was now  
legally Shampoo's husband. He had the right, but he lost his honor. That  
was something that he absloutely craved and lived for, even more than  
his love for Shampoo. He was truly a blank.......  
  
"All the times I saw her beat you up and spurn you, I never knew or  
thought that you would explode like that........what made you do it??"  
he inquired of Mousse.  
  
".......I think I was just tired. Tired of giving so much and not  
getting anything in return. Not a thank you, not an appreciative  
gesture, nothing. And I just needed to stake my claim to her, to show  
her I am and will always be more than just that." Mousse muttered  
softly. "And now I've won it all and lost it all, because I finally  
showed her what I was truly capable of. My god......"  
  
"You law would dictate that fighting Shampoo was the only way that  
you could ever win her hand....contrary to our beliefs over here, you  
actually did the right thing. So why...."  
  
"Why do I feel like shit?? Why do I feel so damm unworthy of her  
love?? Because of this one thing: I made a promise to myself and to  
Shampoo that I would never hurt her ever in my lifetime. Never. Under no  
circumstances would I ever violate my promise to her. But I have. And  
more than that, I've beaten her to within an inch of her life. By my own  
hands, these hands. I can never face her again. Ever....." His head  
slunmped into his hands as he uttered the last few words, but soon  
snapped to attention as an old voice he hated stated what he feared the  
most.  
  
"But you must face and marry her, Mousse. You are an amazon; this is  
you destiny, and you must face it...." Cologne appeared through the rear  
of the small room and walked her way over to the pair on the far side.  
"You made a choice, and now you must live with it...."  
  
"Honored elder....." Mousse made an attempt to stand up, but fell  
back as a massive pain in his stomach rippled throughout his entire  
body. "Don't try to move just yet, boy...you may be only a male but you  
have fought the toughest battle of your life on top of working an wntire  
shift at work to boot. Even I would not be that heartless...." she said  
as she walked over to the little couch and cups of tea.  
  
"Doctor, would you please check on my granddaughter for a moment?? I  
need to speak to Mousse in private."  
  
"Of course. Mousse," he started as he stood up to leave, "Shampoo  
will be waking soon. I would like for you to see her as soon as  
possible. Okay?"  
  
"Hai." With that, the young doctor left the room, and it's two  
inhabitants fell into silence. Mousse's trembling could be felt from  
across the room and Cologne sensed that the Amazon youth was scared. She  
measured his strength and determination of will through the sipping of  
her first cup of tea. "Mousse, why did you attack my great-granddaughter  
in the way that you did?? I need to know why you would do such a thing  
in the first place, because what I need to tell you must be verified."  
  
A long silence passed, then Mousse began to speak. "...I think it  
was the fact that I was tired of being disrespected by someone who I  
thought to have loved. I still do love Shampoo. But I'm not going to be  
hurt by her anymore. I can't. And now I cannot ever be her husband  
because I hurt her. The only thing I ever promised her that I would  
never do, I did. How can I face myself??..."  
  
"You must find a way to face what you have done, because I need you  
to help me make sure that it is never done again in our culture," the  
elder said calmly as she gazed at the blind boy.  
  
"Wha...??"  
  
"Let me explain." Cologne set down her teacup and settled back  
deeper into the couch cushions. "For a long time I've been noticing a  
long change in the way that males of your generation deal with females  
in the village. In you, I've seen this change most of all. I've also  
looked at the way that the women of your generation want to be treated  
and respected. Domination is not their concern; acceptance and love are  
however. So for myself and the fellow elders to be committed to the old  
ways of female domination in tribe business is foolish and  
short-sighted. We'll destroy ourselves if we do not adapt to the times."  
  
"What are you saying?" Mousse asked slowly. He was still a little  
confused at what the patriarch was trying to say to him.  
  
"What I'm saying is this: I want you to co-lead the amazon tribes  
with Shampoo as soon as both of you are ready." She paused to let this  
massive statement sink in as she gazed into the eyes of the young man in  
front of her. Seeing nothing but shock and astonishment on his face, she  
continued. "I need a strong, wise and controlled man to help Shampoo  
lead this tribe into the next millenium and beyond, and I would think of  
no one more satisfactory to do this than you. Mousse, you are going to  
be the next leader of the amazons. Period."  
  
"But...But what about Saotome??..."  
  
"Ranma Saotome is not a concern anymore, as you have supplanted his  
claim to my great-grandaughter in battle. For the record, he forefited  
his right to the amazon lineage when he hurt my kin in the fashion that  
he did. I will deal with him personally for this crime against my  
family. And furthermore," she continued while picking up steam, "the  
amazons need a man of integrity to lead them into the future, and Ranma  
Saotome has shown all the traits that will damm him to a life of misery.  
He, his father, and Happousai should all be very happy together as their  
exploits will lump them all together as the scum of the earth."  
  
"I'm not the man you think I am, Cologne...." Mousse said softly.  
  
"Nonsense. You are just the man we need, Mousse. Do you honestly  
think that I would let an amazon, male or not, go through all the things  
that you have gone through without having a plan for this?? Not at all."  
She shifted gears in her speech and addressed him in a softer tone.  
"I've always seen in you the things that I hoped that all males of your  
lineage acquire. Loyalty unto death. Committment. Faith. Hope. Patience.  
Charity. Clarity of Vision. You will become a great leader. I just know  
it."  
  
"And what about Shampoo??" Mousse gently inquired.  
  
"Shampoo knows what is best for our tribe, and she will accept this.  
She has to, or I have not taught her the things she knows well enough."  
Cologne stood to leave and Mousse popped up with her in a respectful  
rise. "Mousse, always remember this: The road to a better life is often  
taken with one painful step. I know that it was not your preference to  
hurt my Shampoo. I know that. But it is done and past now, and I need  
you to let time heal those wounds. When it does, you'll be able to  
forgive yourself and more importantly, love yourself."  
  
"I will."  
  
"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a store to close. I'll see  
you later on this evening." She hopped to the door, leaving a stunned  
Mousse in her wake. "Mousse?"  
  
"Yes, Honored elder?"  
  
"It's good to have you in the family.....future son-in-law."  
  
With that Cologne left the room as softly as she had entered it.  
Mousse stood for a very long time and wondered about the new situation  
that had just been presented to him. He was going to co-lead the amazon  
tribes. Him!! the one no one wanted was going to be the next leader of  
his people. It was enough to make the blind martial artist stand up and  
shout, but he realized that it would have to be with the woman he loved  
the most. Shampoo. A shudder passed through his side as he walked out  
the door and down a small hallway to the room where his love was. It was  
time to face Shampoo.  
  
He found his feet taking him to her bedside, his brain deciding to  
take a more "hands off" approach in guiding him in these tense minutes.  
Mousse reached down and clutched Shampoo's bruised hands in a gentle  
motion. As if she could feel the contact being made between the two of  
them, Shampoo's eyes began to open. She gazed upon Mousse's broken face  
with a quiet awe. Almost a compassion.  
  
"Mousse...??" She whispered softly.  
  
"Yes. It's me, Shampoo." He said softly while holding her hand.  
  
"Where you go?"  
  
"I needed to be alone for a few minutes with the doctor....I needed  
to be away from you..." His eyes began to tear up as he looke dupon her  
broken countenance. This was not lost on the young girl by any means.  
  
"You no...love...Shampoo anymore??" she asked with a catch in her  
throat. A long moment passed.....then Mousse dropped to her side of the  
bed on his knees and clutched her gently to his face. His tears began to  
wet the fron of her blanket as he cried. "You love me??" she repeated  
with her own tears beginning to fall from her own swollen eyes.  
  
"Yes....I....I....a-a-always loved y-y-you...." he stammered while  
clutching her close. "Will you love me, Shampoo?"  
  
She pulled her hands away from his and clutched his head in her  
fingertips. His eyes met his in a love embrace and she whispered to him  
in a voice that only he needed to hear. "If you love me, I love  
you....woda airen...." At that she crumpled back into his chest with her  
tears falling into his bloody shirt. Mousse's tears sprinkled on the  
back of her neck and all that could be heard was the sobbing of the two  
amazons. The ones who were bound by something more than just love. They  
were bound by honor.  
  
As the two slowly hugged each other into submission, only one  
thought rattled through their heads. The thought that was the  
cornerstone of the new foundation that they were laying for themselves:  
  
Things would never be the same again. 


End file.
